Ávila/Valladolid, (EFE).- The landing of the Prado Museum in Ávila has completed 25 years of history and these days it is witnessing a new chapter that it hopes will be the definitive one.
These days, Ávila is witnessing a new chapter of that landing of the project so that his Palacio de Los Águila (16th century) is a permanent extension of the Prado Museum and that lasts those almost 25 years.
In 1998 Minister Esperanza Aguirre and the president of the Community, Juan José Lucas, announced an agreement
The origin is in 1998, when the then minister Esperanza Aguirre announced an agreement in this sense together with the historic president of Castilla y León, Juan José Lucas.
The current president of the Board, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco (PP), and the Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta (PSOE), have just promised to sign a new agreement in the coming months to definitively settle this issue.
Now Minister Miguel Iceta and President Mañueco announce an agreement for its completion
They are the last of a long list of presidents, ministers, councilors and mayors who have had among their jobs the tortuous processing of this project, which has gained special relevance just before the different elections.
This is the timeline:
APRIL 1998.- The Minister of Culture, Esperanza Aguirre, signs with the President of the Junta de Castilla y León, Juan José Lucas, an agreement that projects 6,000 square meters in the Palacio de Los Águila in Avila so that it becomes a space attached to the Prado Museum.
JANUARY 1999.- The Ministry, the Caja Madrid Foundation and the Ávila City Council agree to contribute respectively 150, 134 and 16 million pesetas for a project whose works were expected to start in February.
Minister Rajoy announced a definitive impulse in 1999
DECEMBER 1999.- The Minister of Education and Culture, Mariano Rajoy, visits the works and announces the “definitive impulse” for the project.
FEBRUARY 2000.- Modification of the project. The Council of Ministers and the Board of Trustees of the Prado Museum approve an agreement that raises the budget for the project to 575 million pesetas -425 million contributed by the museum, 134 by the Caja Madrid Foundation and 16 by the City Council-.
MARCH 2001.- Archaeological surveys are carried out in the surroundings of the Palace.
JANUARY 2002.- The then mayor of Ávila, Agustín Díaz de Mera, announces that the project raises its budget to 6 million euros -980 million pesetas-.
APRIL 2003.- The ‘first stone’ of the rehabilitation works of the building is laid.
JULY 2003.- The transfer of the works of art that were in the Palace begins as a step prior to the start of the works.
In 2004 Minister Pilar del Castillo announced that she would be in 2005
FEBRUARY 2004.- The then Minister of Education and Culture, Pilar del Castillo, announces that the center attached to the Prado will be “in operation in 2005”.
MARCH 2005.- Archaeological remains of Roman origin appear and the then mayor, Miguel Ángel García Nieto, refers to the end of 2006 for the completion of the works.
Minister Carmen Calvo guarantees the continuity of the project in 2007
MARCH 2007.- The Minister of Culture, Carmen Calvo, guarantees the continuity of the works in the Palace to carry out the project linked to the Prado.
NOVEMBER 2007.- The central government declares “emergency” works, which conclude almost a year later.
JANUARY 2009.- Waiting to resolve one of the main problems of this project, the legal dispute with the company Construcciones J.Quijano, awarded with the rehabilitation works of the property.
SEPTEMBER 2009.- The architect Pedro Feduchi is awarded the project for the adaptation of the Casa de Los Águila as the headquarters of the Ávila Museum and “Extended Prado”.
NOVEMBER 2010.- Awarded the execution of the work of the new project for 4.6 million euros.
SEPTEMBER 2011.- The institutions involved announce the end of the works by mid-2012, with a budget of 10.8 million euros.
JULY 2013.- The new minister José Ignacio Wert promises to “expedite” and “unclog” the dispute with the construction company.
Minister Wert decides to redesign and resize the sub-headquarters in 2014
DECEMBER 2014.- Wert decides to reconsider the project of the Prado sub-headquarters, understanding that it must be “redesigned” and “resized”.
OCTOBER 2015.- Minister Íñigo Méndez de Vigo takes over from Wert and announces a budget item of 2 million in the PGE for 2016. He even talks about the fact that the first exhibition of this center would be about Pedro Berruguete.
Minister Méndez de Vigo is committed to a more ambitious project
JUNE 2016.- Méndez de Vigo is committed to a “more ambitious” project and the Junta de Castilla y León speaks of the fact that the works will be resumed “as soon as possible”.
APRIL 2018.- The Government budgets again, in this case 2 million euros, for the state budget for the following year (2019).
DECEMBER 2018.- The Government announces a new variation of the project for temporary exhibitions of the Museo del Prado, and qualifies it as an “intermediate” route. A radical change is given to the project with the incorporation of the Provincial Museum of Ávila -ownership of the Board- to the same facilities.
SEPTEMBER 2020.- The Ávila City Council authorizes the Ministry to start new works, which are resumed in November.
Minister Rodríguez Uribes proposes changes
FEBRUARY 2021.- The Minister of Culture, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, once again proposes a possible change that leaves the incorporation of the Provincial Museum out of the project.
DECEMBER 2021.- A temporary exhibition of the Prado, commemorating its bicentennial and with reproductions of some of its most representative works, stops in the streets of Ávila, which claims new steps in the permanent headquarters project.
OCTOBER 2022.- The Ministry once again budgets 2.6 million euros for 2023.
Minister Iceta resumes this year the idea of the extended Prado
FEBRUARY 2023.- Minister Miquel Iceta takes up the idea of ”Extended Prado” for the city of Ávila and promises that the works will be completed before the end of the year.
MARCH 16, 2023.- Meeting of Mañueco and Iceta in Madrid. They undertake to sign a new agreement in the coming months to guarantee that the Palacio de Los Águila will become a permanent extension of the Prado Museum. EFE